An Ultimate Road Trip Across Thar Desert To Bikaner & Jaisalmer In Rajasthan

Rajasthan, literally, means place of Rajas or Royals and entire Rajasthan still exhumes the aroma of medieval period. It is located amidst the oldest mountain ranges, the Aravalli Ranges and has been an important part of cultural and commercial exchanges between various civilizations of the world. Every place of Rajasthan is studded with amazing assortment of heritage, history, culture, traditions, folk music and colorful folk life. Rajasthan is the best place for the travelers who love to explore the vibrant culture and well preserved traditions.

The reasons as to why to visit Rajasthan lies in its various famous destinations which are known by sobriquets like Pink City, Blue City, Lake City and Golden city. I wanted to see life beyond this and hence wanted to explore Rajsthan my way i.e. self drive road tripping. For a self drive aficionado like me, after having driven in deadly mountain roads in Himalayan state of Himachal and Uttaranchal, this time call for actions reverberated from golden sand dunes of Great Indian Desert of Thar spread in the Rajasthan state of India and some part in Pakistan as well.

Rajasthan: Camel Land of India

Once in Rajasthan, you have a wide range of things to cover. Formidable and magnificent forts, tale of legends, mesmerizing havelis/mansions of Baniya traders, folk deities, varied landscape comprises of golden sand dunes, lush green forest and blue water lakes. It has something for everyone and it is impossible to return without being affected by the mysterious charm of royal land.

Old Stone Structure: Can be located in abundance

My idea of exploring Rajasthan, however, was to drive thru desert in Jaisalmer, go deep in desert riding on a camel in Bikaner to experience the arid yet serene vastness of nature, appreciate the architectural marvelous of havelis/mansions in Mandawa, Bikaner and Jaisalmer, get mesmerized by ever revered rats of the Karni Mata Temple, spend a day in the only living forts of the world i.e. Golden Fort of Jaisalmer, pay my tribute to the Tanot Mata at border location in Jaisalmer and last but not the least see the art of concocting the Bhujia in Bikaner.

Driving through Thar Desert

So in a nut-shell Rajasthan offers everything that can satiate my yearning for travel, capturing photographs of natural beauty and architectural grandeur, and relish much talk about food of Rajasthan,

Let’s have a quick view of self drive road trip to Bikaner and Jaisalmer

Route Map Delhi to Bikaner to Jaisalmer to Tanot and back to Delhi Via Jaipur

Sunrise on Delhi Jaipur Highway

Rangeela Rajasthan: Colorful Art on Wheel

Structure on Water Well: Prevalent in Shekhavati Region of Rajasthan. Water has always been most precious resource in Rajasthan.

Haveli in Mandawa: Mandawa is famous for colorful Haveli Facades. This town is known as world’s biggest open art gallery.

Another Haveli in Fatehpur on the road to Bikaner

Road to Karni Mata Mandir in Deshnok from Bikaner

Karni Mata Mandir: Famous Rat Temple near Bikaner in Deshnok.

Revered Rats of Karni Mata Temple: Famous Rat Temple

Rampuria Havelis in Bikaner

Bhikharam Chandmal: Most famous Bhujia Store of Bikaner

Bhujia Maker: Experts in making Bhujia. Witnessed the centuries old art of Bhujia making

Desert Safari: On my way to spend one night at Sand Dunes

Sun Set in the desert: 12KM off Bikaner

Amazing to see sunset in the vastness of desert

Night Camping at Sand Dunes

Sunrise: Majestic Morning from Sand Dunes

Sheer Serendipity: Wow!

Road to Jaisalmer from Bikaner

Picturesque Road: From Bikaner to Jaisalmer

Twilight hours: Godhuli Vela on the road to Jaisalmer

Golden Fort of Jaisalmer: Only living fort of India and probably of the world

Ultimate Desert-Road off to Jaisalmer towards Tanot famous for Tanot Mata Mandir on the Indo-Pak Border

Further deep from Tanot to Longawala

So in five days, I did multitude of things and most of them qualifies for first time in life experience.

*I did a Camel Ride and fed the camel

*I spent a night 12 KM deep in Desert

*I witnessed Sunset and Sunrise in a Desert

*I drove through Desert Road from Bikaner to Jaiselmer to Tanot

*I lived in a fort and enjoyed roof top food from a 800 years old fort

*I fed to world’s most revered rats at Karni Mata Temple

*I captured most amazingly crafted doors while crossing Mandawa

*I interacted with Bhujia Maker while he was frying the famous Bikaneri Bhujia

*And at last did a 900 KM Self drive from Jaisalmer to Delhi in straight 12 hours.

All in all, it was a great trip and i could see the royal world of Rajasthan and enjoy desert life at its best. Will I go back? Absolutely yes and very soon as everything about Rajasthan is off-beat and adventurous.

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Travel Tip for Rajasthan: Over so many years, it has developed very good infrastructure for tourism. In my view, with ts multitude offering, Rajsthan is all about experiences. So I strongly recommend to opt for a reliable Rajasthan Tour Package in advance which includes all the associated activities at each place like Desert Safari in Bikaner, Desert Camping in Jaiselmer, Bishnoi Village Safari around Jodhpur, Photowalk tours in old city of Jaipur etc depending upon your way of traveling.

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What do you think of this travel. Please share your story of Rajasthan.

If you feel motivated, please share this blog post with your loved ones so that they can break the mundane cycle of everyday life and explore the world.

I visited Rajasthan recently, and Jaisalmer was a completely unique experience. But the day we reached there was some stand storm and we couldn’t put a tent outside. Anyhow, the whole camel riding experience on the sand dunes was amazing!

I am loving this post! Planning a trip to India next year, and I will definitely be using this as a guide. I’ve never even heard of Rajasthan so thanks for educating me! I find the self drive map especially helpful 🙂

What a wonderful trip. I have never ridden a camel neither have I been to the desert. Those are the two thing on my list. I like the architecture of the Karni Mata Mandir and the Rampuria Havelis in Bikaner.

Like many tourists, we had limited time when in this area ourselves, which is a shame, because it looks like we could have seen so much more local culture if we had been able to get a little more off the beaten path!

Thank you for this blog with amazing photos of Bikaner. Bikaner is a vibrant, dust-swirling desert town with fabulous forts. It’s less dominated by tourism than many other Rajasthan cities, though there are many places to visit in Bikaner full of amazing flora and fauna to explore.